Siberian Express

We left Ulaan Baatar after lunch for our 1.25 hour flight almost due north to Irkutsk Russia.  Sadly my knowledge of geography did not extend to Russia, but we were now on our way to Siberia.  Unlike most entries to the various countries we travel to on this trip, entering Russia was complicated.  Each person had to go through the immigration line separately.  Your passport was examined, read, flipped through and then read again.  Then it was scanned into their system and a form was printed.  This form has to be presented when we leave Russia.  It was averaging about 3 minutes a person to get this process done.  So with 85 people to process and 3 working lines – it took a long time.  The man directly in front of us ended up being processed for almost 10 minutes.  When we talked to him later he said the agent had to make 2 phone calls to supervisors.  Turns out he worked in nuclear energy and had some high security clearances from the US at some point.  We were not sure why this was all going on, since the visa paperwork we had filled out months ago was quite extensive in the questions asked, so we were already in “the system.”

When we finally got on our bus for our city tour it was rush hour.  There is no rhyme or reason to the streets at this time.  You want to go left, go left, doesn’t matter where you are starting from.  You want to go straight, have at it.

We saw a Russian Church, Znamenskaya Cathedral, which had graves of Decembrists.  These were the people who launched the uprising against Tsar Nicholas I in 1825.  These men were exiled to SIBERIA.  Their exile was for 30 years.  Many of their wives followed them and this helped to populate this area of Russia.  We saw the wooden houses which this city is famous for.

We also went to their war memorial, where one of our lecturers told of the sacrifices Russia made in the Second World War.  They lost millions of soldiers and citizens.  It is a tradition for newly married couples to come here to leave flowers and we were treated to that happy moment after hearing about the sadness of war.

Our dinner was outside on a terrace of the Nzhny Bulldog restaurant along the riverside.  We had a folk music group entertaining.  There were 6 plates of various appetizers – smoked fish, wonderful salmon, various salads, meats, etc.  Then we could go to the carving station for lamb, a vegetable curry and crab cakes (not anything like our crab cakes). Then dessert.  Oh, and vodka to drink.

When we returned to the hotel around 9:30 it was still very light with the sun not setting until 10:30 at night.  White nights in Russia!

Fitbit – 9834 steps, 92 floors, and 4.66 miles.